When the “blogging revolution” first began, blogs looked like blogs and websites looked like websites. You could easily tell them apart.
Then the WordPress CMS came along and revolutionized the online publishing world. Now, it’s becoming almost impossible to tell if the website was built with “blogging” tools like the WordPress platform, or if it’s been built using web-building software. Not so much in terms of what the sites are being used for, but in terms of website design and also being able to tell what type of web application is actually powering the site.
(It’s Getting Harder To Tell Websites Built With Web Development Tools Vs ‘Blogging’ Software!)
For website owners, understanding the difference between a Content Management System application like WordPress and other website-building tools is huge, not so much in terms of the technical differences, but more importantly, in terms of the areas that matter to most website owners, like web development costs, ease of use, ability to maintain the website up-to-date, managing content, etc.
Think about this …
Which of the following options would you choose?
A) An eye-catching, professional-looking website that is actually expensive to build, or
B) The same eye-catching, professional-looking site, but at a tiny fraction of the cost of getting option ”A” above built.
If you decided to go with option ”B” above, then you need to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress, why WordPress can provide you with an eye-catching website that will normally turn out to be far less expensive to build than websites built using a web development tool … and how to tell the two types apart!
WordPress is the world’s preferred online publishing platform and content management system (CMS). It is a budget-friendly CMS that is ideally suited for local businesses.
Whether your reason for having a website is for personal blogging or business use, WordPress is easy enough for a novice with no technical knowledge to use, yet it offers many helpful features that make your website extremely effective when it comes to getting your content published, promoting visitor engagement, generating business leads and sales, enhancing your site’s capabilities, scalability, etc.
With almost one in every five websites around the world currently being powered by WordPress, chances are that if you already own a website, your website is probably powered by WordPress too.
And if you don’t have a website yet, or are thinking of getting a website built, then wouldn’t it be great to be able to show your web developer an existing site with the design and layout that you like, know that it was built with WordPress and that you can, therefore, get a similar site built for your business for a much smaller cost?
Does My Website Run On WordPress?
Do you need to know if a website was built using WordPress? Maybe you’ve come to our site because you’ve heard or read wonderful things about WordPress, and you’re now wondering if your site runs on the WordPress software, or some other website application.
Also, have you ever looked at a competitor’s website and wondered what they’re doing to try and get better results online?
Knowing if your competitor’s site is built with WordPress can tell you a few things about their strategies and methods, such as what themes or plugins they are using.
Here are some simple methods you can use to quickly tell if sites are built using WordPress:
Look At Your Source Code
If you know how to search the source code of a web page (e.g. Firefox Menu > Web Developer > Page Source if using Firefox, or Google Menu > More Tools > View Source if using Google Chrome), you can look for obvious tell-tale footprints that the site was built using WordPress …
(Viewing your web page source code in Firefox)
Suppose that you are browsing online and you visit a web site that you like, and you wonder if the site uses WordPress …
First, bring up the site’s source code on your screen, using the methods described above.
In the page’s source code, search for words like “wp-content” either manually …
Or use the browser’s “Find” function …
(Use Firefox’s ‘Find’ function)
This will tell you if the site was built with WordPress or not.
Note: If you are unable to find “wp-content” in the page source code, it doesn’t mean that you are not looking at a WordPress site.
There are other ways to tell if the site runs on the WordPress software, as we will soon be discussing.
As the focus of this article is to try and help non “techies”, however, we have listed below a number of easier ways to check if your site is built with WordPress other than looking at the source code.
Ask Your Web Developer
While this may seem like the obvious thing to do, some web development companies, for whatever reason, may build their clients a website and not tell them it’s WordPress.
If you have an existing website and you can’t tell what CMS application was used to build it, just ask your web developer or whoever built your web site if the web site has been built using WordPress.
That was easy, huh?
Okay … what if you can’t reach the person who built your site, or what if you’ve come across a site that you really like while surfing the net late at night and you would like to know if the site was built with WordPress?
Check Below The Footer
If the site uses a WP theme where the them template has not been edited, you can typically see a “Powered by WordPress” notice displayed at the bottom of the site …
(Powered by WordPress)
If these simple methods haven’t helped you, here are some other ways of identifying WordPress sites …
Sites That Can Tell You If A Website Runs On WordPress
Here are a couple of sites that can tell you if a website uses WordPress or not, and what themes or plugins the site uses …
Is It WP – WordPress Checking Tool
(Is It WP)
Is It WP? is a free tool that lets you quickly check if a website runs on WordPress or not.
Using this tool is very simple. Just type in or paste in the URL of the site into the search field and click the button next to it.
The tool will go and search through the site code and tell you if the site was built using WordPress, and if so, it will even tell you the version of WordPress it is currently using …
If the site is not powered by WordPress, you will get a message similar to the one below …
To visit this site, go here:
Advanced WP Theme Checker by Satori
(WordPress Theme Detector)
WordPress Theme Detector by Satori Studio is a free tool that can help determine whether or not a website uses WordPress as its CMS engine; it will also tell you which theme the site is using and provide a link to the theme’s official page.
To use this tool, paste the URL of a web page (it doesn’t have to be the home page) into the ‘Enter website URL’ field and click on the ‘What WordPress theme is that?’ button …
(Enter website URL and click the button)
The Detector will automatically scan the website and output its theme information …
(WordPress Theme Detector displays theme results)
If a website is built with WordPress but the theme is too customized to contain any traces of its origins, the Detector will still let you know it’s a WP site by outputting a message on the right.
(Modified WordPress theme message)
If the website is not using WordPress at all, the tool will also let you know …
(This website is not WordPress)
You can try the Detector yourself by visiting this link:
Wappalyzer – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome)
(Wappalyzer – Web Browser Add-On (Firefox / Chrome))
If you browse the net using either the Firefox or Google Chrome web browsers and would like to be able to see if the sites that you are visiting are powered by WordPress, then Wappalyzer is a very useful add-on to add to your web browser.
Wappalyzer identifies what type of software is installed on the sites while you are browsing.
According to their website …
“Wappalyzer is a browser extension that uncovers the technologies used on websites. It detects content management systems, eCommerce platforms, web servers, JavaScript frameworks, analytics tools and many more.”
It’s also easy to install and easy to use.
After installing Wappalyzer, icons will display in your browser, in the URL field allowing you to see which software is being used by all the sites you are visiting …
If you see the WordPress icon displayed on the browser menu (as shown in the screenshot above), then the site has been built with WordPress.
(This site has been built with WordPress!)
To install the Wappalyzer extension, go here:
SpyBar
(SpyBar – Browser Addon For WordPress)
SpyBar is a browser addon that lets you ‘reverse engineer’ any WordPress site you visit and see which WordPress plugins and themes are being used, right inside your web browser …
(SpyBar – Discover WordPress Plugins And Themes Used By Your Competitors)
SpyBar can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox and is compatible with PC and Mac.
To download or learn more about SpyBar, go here:
Plugin Sniper
(Plugin Sniper – Find out what plugins a WordPress site is using)
Plugin Sniper lets you find out what plugins a WordPress site is using. This is a useful tool if you want to know what WordPress plugins are being used by your competitors.
Plugin Sniper is also a useful tool for researching what kinds of plugins businesses in certain niches are using …
(Search WordPress sites by categories and location)
To download or learn more about Plugin Sniper, visit the site below:
I hope you have found the above tutorial useful.
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)